Chapter 886, Predicament

After taking the long shuttle artifact into his body, Yang Kai exited the Holy Tomb to see what the Holy Land’s situation was, soon finding everything just as he left it.

The Holy Land’s disciple, after the last incident, had all been working hard on their cultivation and even some of the Elders had made great progress.

The Ancient Demon clansmen were also coexisting peacefully with the original Nine Heavens Holy Land’s inhabitants under the constraints of Li Rong and the other Great Commanders.

The only thing that was of concern was cultivation materials.

Although Wu Jie had delivered a massive amount of supplies the last time he came, the thousands of cultivators in the Holy Land were consuming them at a rate faster than they could be replenished, so it was inevitable that at some point their supplies would be exhausted.

In the past, Nine Heavens Holy Land’s cultivation materials were all sought out by its disciples or given as tribute from the three nearby forces. The old Holy Master would also obtain some from the Monster Domain in exchange for Crystal Stones.

But now that the Crystal Stone mineral lodes had been unscrupulously mined by the Monster Race for three years, they had almost been exhausted and could no longer even supply the Holy Land’s own needs, so how could they take them to exchange for other necessary commodities?

Yang Kai took out everything he had no use for from the Black Book space but that would only ease the situation temporarily.

The Holy Land’s Elders spent every day recently worrying about this issue.

Seeing their appearances, Yang Kai couldn’t bring himself to ask them to help him seek out World Spirit Treasure.

All World Spirit Treasures, regardless of whether they had any use or not, were incredibly rare and valuable. With the dire state of their finances, how could the Holy Land purchase such items?

Yang Kai couldn’t come up with any good ideas so he simply tossed this issue to Xu Hui and the other Elders and secluded himself in the Holy Tomb again to cultivate.

Inside the Holy Tomb, the days flew by as Yang Kai immersed himself in studying the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao.

Occasionally, when he grew weary of cultivating, Yang Kai would refine some pills to ease his mind and body.

Yang Kai’s original purpose in studying Alchemy was simply to cultivate his Spiritual Energy.

Because the True Alchemic Way, which contained an enormous amount of information, had been branded into Yang Kai’s consciousness, in order to study and decipher it, he had to consume massive amounts of Spiritual Energy.

Gradually though, after absorbing a great deal of Alchemy knowledge and experience, he also embarked on this path.

Yang Kai never expected to travel far down this path but through numerous twists of fate, he was now a genuine Saint Grade Mid-Rank Alchemist, one of the most powerful in the entire world.

All of this was thanks to the True Alchemic Way!

However, the deciding factor in why Yang Kai continued to pursue Alchemy was because as he comprehended the Alchemic Way, it also helped him deeper his understanding of the Martial Dao as well as assisted him in developing his Conflagrated Knowledge Sea.

Yang Kai had managed to use Alchemy as an auxiliary to comprehend the Martial Dao!

Therefore, while improving his cultivation and comprehension, Yang Kai also spared no effort to improve his Alchemy proficiency as well.

Unfortunately, after refining the Saint Grade Mid-Rank pill to release the Ancient Demon Clan, Yang Kai didn’t have many Saint Grade materials left to use.

At his current level, without refining Saint Grade pills, it was impossible for Yang Kai to improve his Alchemy technical and attainments.

After refining a few Saint Pills inside the Holy Tomb, Yang Kai used up all his remaining Saint Grade herbs, leaving him helpless.

Cultivation knew no years and when Yang Kai once again exited his retreat, three months had already passed.

The air around the nine peaks had undergone some subtle changes in this time though.

Inside the main hall, the Elders were holding a serious discussion, the atmosphere in the room quite solemn, so it wasn’t until Yang Kai physically entered the room that they noticed his presence, all of them quickly standing up and saluting.

“Please sit, I just exited today to have a look around, there’s no need for all these formalities,” Yang Kai gestured.

Everyone nodded lightly and sat down again.

“Holy Master has come at just the right time actually,” Xu Hui began, “We were debating whether to sell some of the valuables the Holy Land isn’t currently using and would like to get Holy Master’s opinion.”

“What are you trying to sell?” Yang Kai was surprised by this sudden proposal.

“There are some artifacts that are not being used as well as some Secret Arts and Martial Skills that belong to our Nine Heavens Holy Land,” Xu Hui replied.

“Why do you want to sell those?” Yang Kai swept his eyes around.

The Elders all blushed with embarrassment, none of them speaking up.

Yang Kai knit his brows, even more puzzled by their reaction.

Xu Hui smiled bitterly and explained, “The main reason is that many of the disciples who cultivated inside the Holy Tomb some time ago obtained various harvests and breakthroughs. In order to consolidate their current cultivations, they require a large number of resources. Unfortunately, the Holy Land’s foundation and heritage have taken a great deal of damage, so… There is currently a lack of materials. If we sell some of the treasures we are not actively using, we can alleviate the Holy Land’s financial situation greatly.”

“Holy Master, you must help us persuade Great Elder to stop, he actually wants to sell the Saint Grade Low-Rank artifact the old Holy Master bestowed him!” Yu Ying called out.

Yang Kai was dumbfounded, “Is the Holy Land’s situation actually that critical?”

“It is we subordinates’ incompetence!” Xu Hui said awkwardly, “However, as long as we can weather these difficult times, the situation will slowly improve.”

“No, this isn’t your fault,” Yang Kai shook his head and thoughtfully said, “A big part of this is related to the Demons I brought back with me. You’ve given them a lot of cultivation resources, haven’t you?”

Although Xu Hui never said anything about this, Yang Kai wasn’t blind.

Since the Ancient Demon Clan arrived in the Holy Land, they had never once lacked for supplies. Obviously, they had obtained them from Xu Hui.

The Holy Land could be self-sufficient, but the Ancient Demon Clan couldn’t.

They were unable to leave the nine peaks at all. Once they were discovered, it would cause a great deal of trouble. A thousand Demons, many of whom were incredibly powerful masters, obviously consumed a lot of the Holy Land’s resources.

Hearing Yang Kai say this, Xu Hui did not make any attempt to deny it and simply nodded silently.

“This is ultimately my responsibility.” Yang Kai gently nodded, admitting his fault in the matter, “I had not considered this issue clearly enough.”

After sinking into thought for a while, Yang Kai’s eyes suddenly flashed as he asked, “Great Elder, I have something I need to ask you. After you and the other Elders reached the Saint Realm, did you acquire a habit of collecting various Saint Grade materials?”

Though slightly confused by this sudden question, Xu Hui nodded, “En, ever since entering the late stages of the Transcendent Realm, subordinate has been purposefully collecting some materials for refining pills and artifacts… All of that was in preparation for the day when I had gathered enough materials to request an Alchemist or Artifact Refiners to refine them into something useful.”

“I also have some collected materials,” Cheng Yue Tong nodded.

All of the other Elders gathered in the main hall nodded as well.

Because acquiring enough Saint Grade materials to refine something useful was not easy and generally took a very long time, most Transcendents would have a habit of collecting materials they needed whenever an opportunity arose.

“The materials all of us had collected over the years have been consumed already though… Unfortunately, even the full set of materials that took Elder Yu Ying ten whole years to collect in order to refine an Azure Cloud Pill were sold recently,” Xu Hui said.

“What’s the point in dwelling on that?” Yu Ying smiled lightly, “Which one of you hasn’t sold items from your collections?”

“It’s different for us….” Luo Sheng sighed, “None of us had a full set of materials collect, but you only needed to find an excellent Alchemist and as long as your luck wasn’t too bad you’d be able to obtain that Azure Cloud Pill which could have greatly enhanced your strength.”

“Exactly!”

“Don’t discuss such things in front of the Holy Master,” Yu Ying smiled wryly and said, “It only sounds like we’re whining about how poor we’ve become.”

The other Elders let out hollow laughs hearing her say this.

“Holy Master, why do you ask this?” Xu Hui asked curiously.

Yang Kai eyes shimmered brilliantly as he confidently said, “That is to say, most Transcendent Realm and above cultivators of this world have the habit of collecting materials, yes?”

“You could say that,” Xu Hui nodded lightly, still not understanding what this had to do with the Holy Land’s current situation, pausing briefly before saying, “However, it is useless to simply collect the appropriate materials since it is also necessary to find someone capable of refining them into a useful product. Elder Yu Ying hadn’t used up her set of materials because she had yet to find an appropriate master to refine that Azure Cloud Pill. High-grade Alchemists and Artifact Refiners are not easy to find and even if one does find one, there is always a risk of failure.”

“Very good,” Yang Kai grinned and declared confidently, “Since that’s the case, I have a way to alleviate the Holy Land’s current predicament…”

“Ah?” All of the Elder couldn’t help showing looks of surprise as they stared in confusion towards Yang Kai.

“Elder Yu Ying, I’ll be sure to get you that Azure Cloud Pill one day!” Yang Kai looked at her and smiled.

Yu Ying shivered slightly, her beautiful eyes filling with a look of anticipating.

Yang Kai suddenly announced, “Great Elder, use all the channels and relationships our Holy Land possesses to distribute an announcement saying that my Holy Land will be providing Alchemy services to anyone who needs to refine Spirit Grade Top-Rank and above pills. En, Saint Grade Top-Rank pills aren’t possible though, be sure to clearly state this point. Remuneration for every successfully refined pill must be Crystal Stones or spirit herbs of equal value to the refined pill. If the refining is a failure though, my Holy Land will provide compensation equal in value to the pill’s materials!”

Inside the main hall, all the Elders stared at Yang Kai with dropped jaws, all of them wondering what the Holy Master was talking about.

Seeing the reaction of Xu Hui and the others, Yang Kai couldn’t help but frown, “Is the cost too high?”

Xu Hui hastily recovered and smiled bitterly, “If you can guarantee the pill is refined successfully, such a price is not high at all! Many people spend a lot of time, energy, and money to collect a full set of materials only to have the person they ask to refine them fail once or twice. As such, it is not unreasonable to ask for Crystal Stones or herbs of the same value as the requested pill; on the contrary, such a price would be quite easy to accept for most.”

“Then why do all of you have such dumbfounded faces?” Yang Kai glanced around at the crowd.

“Holy Master…” Xu Hui’s face twitched slightly, “Our Holy Land does not have a Saint Grade Alchemist…”

Xu Hui even began to suspect that after spending so much time in retreat recently; Yang Kai had become somewhat confused, even forgetting such a basic fact.

Although Nine Heavens Holy Land was by no means a weak force in Tong Xuan Realm, it still didn’t have a dedicated Saint Grade Alchemist.

The main reasons were that such characters were simply too rare and that the Alchemist Guild generally did not allow such high-grade Alchemists formally join a single Sect.

Unless it was an Alchemist that the force themselves cultivated, only then would such an Alchemist not fall under the Alchemist Guild’s jurisdiction!

Unfortunately, Nine Heavens Holy Land had not been able to cultivate a Saint Grade Alchemist for many years.

“Just because we didn’t before, doesn’t mean we don’t now! Just begin spreading the word!” Yang Kai chuckled, not bothering to explain any further.

Xu Hui’s body shivered, seemingly thinking of something, “Does Holy Master mean that among those Demons…”

But soon he frowned, the Demon Race were not proficient in Alchemy because of the Demonic Qi in their bodies.

“The identity of the Alchemist isn’t something you need to concern yourselves with, just follow my orders.”

“Yes!” Seeing Yang Kai act so confidently, Xu Hui no longer asked anything and began making arrangements with the other Elders.

The last time Nine Heavens Holy Land fell into a crisis, no one stepped forward to help. Even now, they were the target of public criticism for colluding with Demons. However, neither of these points hindered them from disseminating information to the outside.

Each of the Elders had their own personal connections they had built up over the many years. Though they were not necessarily allies, spreading a simple message was nothing short of a breeze.